Movie-goers will remember that last March was a major haven for franchise titles. Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two made a huge splash when it dropped in theaters the first weekend of the month, and it was followed by Mike Mitchell's Kung Fu Panda 4, Gil Kenan's Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and Adam Wingard's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Twelve months later, March 2025 has a much different profile (a.k.a. it's completely lacking in sequels), and kicking things off is Mickey 17 – Bong Joon Ho's anticipated follow-up to the Best Picture-winning Parasite.
So how did things pan out? In short: not quite as hoped given the sci-fi adventure's sizable budget. Check out the full Top 10 from this past weekend in the chart below and join me after for analysis.
TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Mickey 17* | $19,100,000 | $19,100,000 | N/A | 3,807 |
2. Captain America: Brave New World | $8,500,000 | $176,584,423 | 1 | 3,480 |
3. Last Breath | $4,200,000 | $14,657,000 | 2 | 3,090 |
4. The Monkey | $3,900,000 | $31,003,297 | 3 | 2,955 |
5. Paddington In Peru | $3,850,000 | $36,959,000 | 4 | 3,085 |
6. Dog Man | $3,500,000 | $88,763,000 | 5 | 2,753 |
7. Anora | $1,860,000 | $18,448,401 | 21 | 1,938 |
8. Mufasa: The Lion King | $1,700,000 | $250,487,739 | 6 | 1,460 |
9. Rule Breakers* | $1,593,401 | $1,593,401 | N/A | 2,044 |
10. In The Lost Lands* | $1,043,000 | $1,043,000 | N/A | 1,370 |
Mickey 17 Has The Third Best Opening Weekend Of 2025
Making a film that wins Best Picture earns a filmmaker a whole lot of industry clout when it comes to making their next project, and in the case of Bong Joon Ho, he swung big. Based on the book Mickey 7 by author Edward Ashton, Mickey 17 is a sci-fi spectacle with cloning, interstellar travel, and giant, bug-like aliens, and Warner Bros. ponied up a reported $118 million to make it (per Variety).
Unfortunately, after the movie's opening weekend, it looks as though it may take a minute for ticket sales to make up for that investment.
According to early box office results reported by The Numbers, Mickey 17 earned $19.1 million during its first three days in theaters domestically. In the context of 2025, that's not too shabby, as it's actually the third biggest debut for a film this year (following the $99.8 million made by Julius Onah's Captain America: Brave New World and the $36 million made by Peter Hastings' Dog Man), but it's surely not the kind of splash that the studio was hoping for.
Probably not helping circumstances much is the opening weekend buzz. I personally enjoyed Mickey 17 quite a bit, as explained in my spoiler-free, four-star CinemaBlend review, but I'll add that it's a flawed movie, and there are a number of critics who viewed those flaws in a harsher light than I did. One wonders if the film may have made a bigger impact at the box office had the early response to it been more effusive, particularly in the wake of the Academy Awards (more on that in a bit).
To be fair, it would have been a ridiculous turn of events had Mickey 17 made $50 million-plus in its first three days of domestic release. Parasite, Bong Joon Ho's biggest box office success to date, only made $53.9 million during its entire domestic run; similarly, Robert Pattinson's most successful movies not counting The Batman or the Twilight series are Christopher Nolan's Tenet ($59.5 million domestically) and Francis Lawrence's Water For Elephants ($58.7 million).
With what is expected to be the biggest movie of March 2025 still a few weeks away (Marc Webb's Snow White), it will be interesting to watch and see what kind of legs Mickey 17 is able to develop. It's made $53.3 million so far worldwide, and it will be interesting to see how high that number jumps come this time next week.
Anora Gets A Box Office Bump As Best Picture Win Results In A Theatrical Release Expansion
Initially released last October, Sean Baker's Anora saw its theater count peak in November when it played in 1,500 theaters... but obviously that was long before it became known as "the Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing. The film has never had more heat than it does now, so Neon did the smart thing and significantly expanded its number of screens this past Friday.
Playing in 1,938 theaters in the United States and Canada this weekend, Anora jumped up the box office charts and into the Top 10 for the first time since mid-November 2024. The movie made an additional $1.9 million, bringing its domestic earnings to date up to $18.4 million. Combined with what the film has made overseas, it has now earned $46.2 million worldwide, which makes it the fourth biggest box office success for Neon following Bong Joon Ho's Parasite ($253.8 million), Osgood Perkins' Longlegs ($125.3 million), and Craig Gillespie's I, Tonya ($53.8 million).
The fact that Anora is currently available for rental or purchase from all major digital retailers is likely a main cause of the film's Oscar bump not being more substantial, but the fact that it still managed to spur interest on the big screen is a nice development to see.
Looking ahead, it's very likely that we will end up seeing a significant shakeup in the Top 10 next Sunday. Why? Because there is a big crop of wide releases aiming for different movie-goer demographics. Want to see a slick new spy thriller? Steven Soderberg's Black Bag has you covered. In the mood for some gnarly, R-rated action? Robert Olsen and Dan Berk's Novocaine should pique your interest. Want to have some laughs with cartoon fun? Peter Browngardt's The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie should scratch that itch. Perhaps you want some indie horror? Mark Anthony Green's Opus will be playing on the big screen with your interests in mind.
As always, I'll be back here on CinemaBlend next Sunday to recap how everything works out at the box office, so be sure to head back to the site then to read all about it. Meanwhile, you can check out our 2025 Movie Release Calendar to plan all of your own cinematic adventures in the coming months.
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